Aeris Lives
by Siuan Sanche
Summary: It was believed that Sephiroth had killed Aeris at the Forgotten Capital. However, due to certain circumstances she was able to survive that brutal attack. May actually fit in with FFVII Storyline. Rated PG13 for violence and language.
1. Aeris Lives Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own Final Fantasy VII or even anything to do with Squaresoft. This geos for all the other chapters as well. I can't be bothered disclaiming all of them.  
  
Cloud had his Buster Sword raised above his head and was about to strike.  
  
'No,' thought Aeris 'Cloud wouldn't kill me. Stop now.'  
  
"Cloud!" yelled Cid.  
  
"Stop it!" added Barret.  
  
'Sephiroth,' thought Cloud "Ugh...what are you making me do?"  
  
All of a sudden Sephiroth came flying down from nowhere and impaled Aeris through the stomach with his Masamune Sword.  
  
He drew it out again and Aeris slumped onto the floor and her White Materia bounced off of the Altar and into the water.  
  
"Aeris...this can't be real!" cried Cloud.  
  
/'It isn't'/  
  
"Do not worry. Soon the girl will become part of the Planet's energy. All that is left is to go north. The 'Promised Land' waits for me over the snowy fields. There I will become a new being by uniting with the planet. As will this girl......"  
  
"Shut up," interrupted Cloud "The cycle of nature and your stupid plan don't mean a thing. Aeris is gone."  
  
/'That's really sweet of you, Cloud.'/  
  
"Aeris will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry...or get angry..."  
  
/'Sorry, Cloud.'/  
  
"What about us...what are WE supposed to do? What about my pain?"  
  
/'REALLY sorry Cloud'/  
  
"My fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning!"  
  
"What are you saying?" questioned Sephiroth, "Are you trying to tell me you have feelings too?"  
  
"Of course!" answered Cloud, "Who do you think I am?"  
  
"Ha, ha, ha......" laughed Sephiroth, "stop acting as if you were sad. There's no need to act as if you're angry either. Bacause, Cloud. You are..."  
  
But Sephiroth didn't answer his question. Instead, he sicked a Jenova-LIFE on them. Too bad they defeated it too easy.  
  
"Because, you are...... a puppet."  
  
"I'm...... a puppet?"  
  
Next thing Cloud knew, Sephiroth and Jenova were gone. He and the others paid their last respects to Aeris, then Cloud took her to the clear pond outside and lowered her down to the deepest part. It was the best burial they could give her due to the current state they were in. Then they left, to persue Sephiroth.  
  
/'Cloud, goodbye, for now anyway.'/  
  
Aeris didn't waste any time. Blood was only just beginning to seep out of her stomach as she dragged herself up to the surface. (She didn't bleed that easily anyway.) There, she cast a Cure Materia on herself, and silently thanked her precious Underwater Materia that she found in the Temple of the Ancients. She was prepared for this moment, as she had forseen it a while back. Silly Cloud, thinking she was dead. It would be better he thought it that way for now anyway.  
  
Aeris had no idea of what to do now. She had just saved herself after almost being killed by Sephiroth. Now what? She then made one critical decision; it was still nighttime, the path to the Altar would still be open, so she made her way there.   
  
To the left of the path up to the Altar was a set of stairs leading down into the water. There she dove down and reposessed her precious White Materia that Ifalna had given to her, and since she had the Underwater Materia, she swam down through a small tunnel out the bottom. She made it through to a room that had a music box in it, and walked all the way round the outside until she got to the center.   
  
There was what Aeris thought to be a blue crystal, and around it on the ground was the writing of the Ancients. It spoke of the blue crystal to be a projector of important memories held by the most recent Ancients there. Due to her prescence, (it said Ancients could activate this projector immediately) the water began to flow down all around her, then it showed the horrifying scene of Jenova 2000 years back, wiping out a few ancients. One Ancient had obviously made it out of there and recorded this, but then got killed by Jenova as well; it showed Aeris. She knew this because some writing in the background in the Old Ancient language spelt 'Crisis from the Sky'.  
  
Aeris already knew what she was seeing so it didn't phase her much.   
  
'Cloud and the others will stop it, I'm sure,' thought Aeris to herself.  
  
Along the end line of the Ancients' writing, Aeris saw that you have to put a key in the music box to activate the projector. It was directly underneath the Forgotten Capital never to be reached by anyone, and it was in the ocean. She had a strong feeling that Cloud and the others would come to this place again soon, so she found a piece of chalk-like rock and scratched into the ground underneath significant sentences: [key] [in the music box]. Her work was done. She left the projector and the water immediately stopped flowing. Cloud and everybody else had just left the Forgotten Capital, and the music box had also recorded her important memories. Now she decided she wanted to find out more about Jenova. She would have to find Gast's records. She would have to return to her old home.  
  
An hour later, Aeris herself had also made it out of the Forgotten Capital. There were signs that Cloud and the others had been there about an hour ago. Cid's cigarette butt for example. She really didn't want to be seen by Cloud or it would probably destroy him, seeing the critical condition he was already in.   
  
Across the snowy feilds for several hours Aeris trudged until finally, she had made it to Icicle Inn. There were Shin-Ra soldiers everywhere, and to Aeris' surprise, Cloud, confronting Elena of the Turks.   
  
Hiding behind a small building for a minute, Aeris saw that Cloud had won the little 'argument', and went looking round town for info. Tifa and Red XIII were with him.  
  
'Red XIII?!' thought Aeris in a slight panic 'he'd pick up my scent! Crap, I've gotta leave!'  
  
And so Aeris decided instead that if he DID pick up her scent, he'd just be imagining it. After all, she had 'died', right?   
  
She headed towards her old house, and then went inside and flopped onto the old bed she had slept on when she was little.  
  
Later on Aeris woke up and figured she'd dozed off, and heard voices. Someone was in the house!   
  
Silently she got up and slid into her old closet. It was just big enough to fit her.  
  
"Yes Cloud, I'm positive! Something here smells like Aeris!"  
  
"Red, I know she just died, but this is no time to make jokes about it. I'm upset about her death too, you know?" said Tifa comfortingly.  
  
"Tifa, have I ever lied to you guys before? And stop speaking to me as if I'm a small child!" Red XIII was pretty annoyed by now.  
  
'I don't think Red XIII is lying. Heh heh,' thought Aeris, 'But you, Ms. Sunshine, care about me? Yeah right! Stupid bitch would've thrown me to Hojo when she got the chance!'  
  
"Hey you guys, look at this. Old footage." that shut Red and Tifa up. Cloud switched it on.  
  
A while later...  
  
"Oh...my...gosh..." said Tifa.  
  
"Well that explains the Aeris smell. Well, now that we have the information we need, shall we head on?" asked Cloud to the others.  
  
"Yeah," said Red XIII, "Keep on following Sephiroth."  
  
They left.  
  
Aeris then popped out of the small closet she was hiding in, and viewed the footage herself. Nothing she didn't know. She decided to go to the extreme. Took her a while to decide to as well. She was going to sneak into Shin-Ra HQ herself.  
  
*********  
  
That's the end of the first chapter! I'll try to post the next chapter within the next few days. Please review! It would make me very happy to see your oppinion (If it is a good oppinion) or even if you'd like to suggest what happens next, you can do that too! Always open for ideas. Well, bye! 


	2. Aeris Lives Chapter 2

At the end of Chapter 1, Aeris had decided that if she was going to find out more about Jenova to help Cloud and the others, then she'd have to actually get into the Shin-Ra HQ...  
  
*********  
  
Since Icicle Inn was now under martial law now, it would be easy to get to the Shin-Ra HQ, Aeris figured. She already had it all planned out. After about another hour's rest and some lunch, Aeris decided that she would carry out her plan right then.  
  
She targetted a lone Shin-Ra soldier on the edge of town, and approached him.  
  
"Good day, sir, how are you?" asked Aeris inncently.  
  
"I'm just fine, ma'am. Why do you ask?"  
  
"It's cold here, isn't it?"   
  
"Not really," said the soldier, obviously showing off, "I can handle the cold just fine! I can't feel it at all!"  
  
"Not even in everyday wear?" asked Aeris.  
  
"Nope! My skin is as strong as-aah-!"  
  
Aeris had smacked him round the head with her Princess Guard, and shoved him into the bushes. Then she grabbed the outer part of his Shin-Ra uniform and put it on top of her everyday wear. The poor soldier was left with a t-shirt and shorts.  
  
"Glad to hear you can handle the cold!" ^^ said Aeris happily, and left.  
  
"Why you-!" started the soldier, but fainted instead, shivering with cold.  
  
Now Aeris was dressed just like a soldier. No one would know it was her.   
  
A few days later Aeris caught the next air-carrier back to the Shin-Ra HQ, but it was the Junon HQ to Aeris' annoyance. She had a hard time getting through, and eventually learned that her name in the soldier uniform was Aaron. Very easy to remember seeing as her name was similar to that. She decided that she'd better leave there and head for Midgar.   
  
Across plains and through a tunnel. All the way to the Midgar swamp. All Aeris needed to do was cast Ultima on the Midgar Zolom there and it was done. Then on the other side she caught a Chocobo and finally reached the city of Midgar.  
  
She dismounted the Chocobo which immediately ran off. She took a deep breath of probably the last fresh air she was going to breathe in a while and made for Midgar entrance. She was sick to death of this soldier uniform already; it was smelly, sticky and several other things all mixed in together that Aeris didn't want to think about.   
  
A few minutes later she made it the the steel entrance door, but there was no way of getting in! She decided to walk around the outside to look for another way in, when... "Hey, soldier! What are you doing there? I thought I told you to follow me this way!" It was one of the red Shin-Ra commanders, but to Aeris it was a ticket into Midgar. "Oh, sorry," Aeris put on a deep voice, "I sort of got lost." The commander looked like he wasn't going to take any shit now. "Just get your ass over here already, will ya?" So Aeris jogged all the way there.  
  
The commander didn't say anything on the way into Midgar. Aeris suddenly realised with guilt that anyother soldier was probably locked outside of Midgar now, and the commander must have thought that Aeris was that soldier.  
  
He led Aeris right to the base of the Sector 3 Slums. Aeris had never been here before. It was partcularly grotty in comparison to Sector 5, 6 and what used to be Sector 7.   
  
They stepped into the small elevator that was there. "Well soldier, do you know where we're going then?" asked the Commander.  
  
"Umm...uhh..," Aeris had absolutely no idea. Then she foresaw it; they went to the Shin-Ra HQ and Aeris was now stationed on floor 68, guarding Hojo's samples. "You're resigning me to Shin-Ra HQ floor 68, sir!" Aeris put on the masculine voice again.  
  
"Correct! But how did you know? I never said anything."  
  
"I overheard you discussing soldier repositioning, sir." Aeris lied.   
  
"I'll tell you something, never eavesdrop on a Shin-Ra commander, I give you that, because if you're discovered you'll live to regret it. But since you're a Level 4 soldier, I'll let you off."  
  
'Level 4? How does he make of that?' then Aeris saw Level 4 written on the shoulder of her jacket. "Yes, sir."  
  
"When we get there, I'll give you your position. Do not move from there as the consequences will be severe, even for someone like you. They don't go lightly on ordinary soldiers, even if you are the highest level it gets. They don't let any lower-level soldiers than Level 4 up there, and even then, Level 4 is when we're desperate. Most of the other high-class soldiers were placed with President Rufus at the place he likes to call 'The Promised Land'. There is supposed to be a huge amount of Mako there..."  
  
'Man this guy likes to talk. And when does this elevator reach the top?' Aeris' question was answered right then.  
  
"Alright! We've made it to floor 68! Took the Executive elevator that can reach any part of the Shin-Ra building plus the Slums. Don't tell them we did that. Behind schedule. Anyway, you can go right here." The commander showed her to the spot next to the door, where she got a good view of the other door and anywhere else someone might want to sneak in. "Anyway I'll leave you here. You'll be fine on your own for now. I'll give you this radio so you can contact me if there are any problems. Oh yeah, I've gotta write your name down for future reference."  
  
"It's Aer-sorry-Aaron," she had almost stuffed that one up.  
  
"And your last name? Wait, Aaron...yep. I've heard about you. Aaron Blayze right?"  
  
"Yes, sir," 'this is getting too easy. Heh heh,' thought Aeris.  
  
"Yep, you'll be fine! And if any specimins break out and are vicious, feel free to kill them. Hate to say. There's been some problems with Hojo's specimens since Jenova broke loose and that Ancient-what was her name again...? Oh yeah, it was Aeris. She escaped anyway."  
  
"What was she like? Hojo was experimenting?"  
  
"Yep. Can't believe he actually modifies humans as well. Quite disgusting really. Yes, Aeris was a pretty girl. Long brown hair, pink dress. Saw her when I was picking Rufus up in the helicopter. I could never score a chick like that, anyway."  
  
Aeris blushed underneath the soldier helmet.  
  
"Oh damn, I'm a bit late to reschedule the next soldier. If there is a huge problem, the floor lockdown code is 7524653 and the security shutdown is 2195735. Here, I'll write them down. ... ... ... ... There you go, don't lose them, they could save your life. Look, I'll see you later. Your shift ends at 2200 hours and it is currenty 1200 hours now," he handed her a pocketwatch as well. "Floor 68 souvineir. Look, gotta run. No slacking," and with that he took the Executive elevator back down again and was gone.  
  
Aeris just tried to rethink over what just went on. She is now stationed here; the one place she was trying to reach. What kind of dumb luck was that? Well, lucky for her part. Now was her chance to investigate, but at the same time, it wasn't. The hardest part was yet to come; and keeping her cover would be difficult. She figured that if Rufus was at this 'Promised Land', which Aeris knew probably wasn't THE Promised Land, then Hojo would most definately be with him there.   
  
The security was extremely lax at the Shin-Ra HQ, which Aeris found was particularly odd, because they were desperate enough to sign a common soldier onto a floor where even the highest ranked Shin-Ra employees had a hard time getting to. Surely they could've spared one SOLDIER? Nope, but Aeris' gain. It would be just a matter of time until Hojo returned, and how long would she stationed here for? Hopefully long enough to learn information sufficient enough to help Cloud and the others, but without actually letting them know she was alive, which would still come to as a shock and a bit of confusion and then leading onto many other things therefore Aeris could not let them know she still walks the planet.  
  
********  
  
Well that is chapter two. Kind of long and descriptive, and possibly even boring if you're not interested in the Shin-Ra/Hojo plot in Final Fantasy VII. For those who really wanted to know -   
  
In the upcoming chapters:  
  
Aeris meets somebody she never would've guessed existed.  
  
Hojo returns to Shin-Ra HQ. What horrifying events could be in store for Aeris now?  
  
Scientists, and more scientists. What's this? Hojo runs a science class? Oh no! More evil scientists!  
  
Tifa shows up?! Wait, that wasn't part of the FFVII storyline! 


	3. Aeris Lives Chapter 3

By the end of Chapter 2, after that blimmin' soldier commander had finished rambling about I can't even remember, Aeris has been left alone to guard the Shin-Ra HQ 68th floor. How often does an opportunity like that come up?! Time to look through Hojo's personal files!  
  
********  
  
Aeris checked the time again. It was 1900 hours. Just 3 hours of torturous standing to go. There was some pretty weird stuff on this floor that Aeris was desperate to check out, but she had to bide her time.   
  
Finally being bored enough to not care whether security noticed her off her post or not, Aeris decided to check what was on a piece of paper nearby on the wall. "Heeeeey, it's a job roster!" said Aeris out loud. But as if her luck couldn't get any worse, or better then again, she was rostered every day for the next week!   
  
Aeris was completely not looking forward to withstanding long hours of just standing there all day for an entire week, but then it would give her a good chance to see if there was any top-secret information stored in the room about Jenvova. Being the one of two specimin rooms, plus this room had more computers in it, there was bound to be a chance to find something out, if there was anything to be learnt in this what Aeris considered-to-be-long period of time. Her only fear was that Hojo would discover her here, and she was the person Hojo wanted to study the most. She would become a specimen again. She was not looking forward to that, but if it would help her to find ot more about Jenova, then was willing to take the risk. But then, Hojo probably also believes she is dead too, if Shin-Ra were to encounter Cloud and the others. Their encounter would be inevitable though, seeing as Shin-Ra and AVALANCHE were going after similar targets.  
  
Another notice on the wall stated that Hojo would be back in 3 days time at 1200 hours. 'That should give me enough time to find out what I need to,' thought Aeris, 'just getting out will be the problem. Sure, I've been signed here for an entire week, but then what? How would I escape from Midgar again, seeing as I could just get signed onto a different area? Oh, I'll think about it again when Hojo gets back. I hope Cloud's alright...'  
  
"Hey!" it was the commander again. "Aaron... hey, nevermind. Can't blame you for not staying exactly where you were posted for 10 whole hours. Anyway, I just was sent here to tell you that I want you to lock down this floor until your shift is done. Never know what kinds of weirdoes want to come in here now, since the president caught some people lurking round the 'Promised Land'. Rufus thought he had been followed by AVALANCHE. Turns out it was AVALANCHE that was following him. The leader and co-leader are going to be executed in a week's time. Till now, one of them is unconscious-"  
  
"Hey, umm, who were those guys again?" Aeris was now playing dumb to find out information.  
  
"Got no names. Just the big guy with the gun-arm and a pretty black-haired woman."  
  
"Well, it serves them right for whatever they were up to. It couldn't've been good anyway," replied Aeris, thinking about Tifa being executed. She didn't really hate Tifa, well Tife was actually a friend, but Aeris didn't really know for Tifa's part. Tifa had been pretty mean to Aeris up until her 'death' when she started sobbing her eyes out.  
  
"Too true. Well, I'd better leave you now. Everyone is going home for the night anyway, except the person for the next shift, who will probably arrive at 2155 hours, then you can just do whatever you like after that, but return to this point for your next shift at 1000 hours tomorrow. We were running behind schedule today, and one more thing, since there's nobody on security right now you might as well shut down the system in here. Wait, I'll do it now. ... ... ... ... Okay, that was easy. All I need you to do is switch it back on in the morning," said the commander, "Oh, and Aaron,"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"This is a very severe case. If ANYONE and I mean anyone is caught up here, don't hesitate to kill them unless they have clearance. If you have a problem then... I hate to say this but lock them in that specimen tank over there," he pointed to the one that she was in when Cloud rescued her, "speaking of specimens, I forgot to tell you, there's a large pack of meat in that corner over there with all the other specimen supplies labelled XIV, at 2000 hours I need you to feed the creature in that tank there," pointing to one with a black sheet over it, "she can get pretty vicious at times but she should be pretty easy if she's hungry, you'll be fine..."  
  
"Yes, sir!"  
  
"Okay we'll be seeing you tomorrow then," and he left.  
  
Aeris really didn't like that guy; he talks too much, but that was a good thing in itself, as she learnt some valuable information. But if the two 'leaders' had been caught, then where was Cloud? Hopefully Sephiroth hadn't done anything to him. She had not foreseen anything right now, but she did wonder what was in the specimen tank. Hopefully not yet another copy of Jenova. She would find out soon.  
  
Occasionally she would hear a light scratching sound on the tank, and possibly a whimper, but nothing more.  
  
Finally it was 2000 hours, which Aeris noted as 8 PM. She made her way over to the pallet of meat that was in the corner and took out that days' package. It was labelled XIV. She had the feeling this creature would be here a long time. She pitied it even though she didn't know what it was. She would've known what it is going through now; nobody deserved this sort of fate, it was worse than death.  
  
Reading the label on the package she soon learned that the meat was Chocobo liver, which made Aeris feel rather queasy, as she had never heard of anyone wanting to feed anything something like this. "The fucking bastard!" Aeris said aloud, never thinking Hojo would ever do something of the sort, but it was true, Hojo would do anything in the name of Science. And to think, there was an entire pallet of it, right here?! How many Chocobos would've been massacred just to collect that much liver?!  
  
But there was nothing she could do about it, so she just carried the package over to the large covered specimen cage. She pried open the disgusting package and took a deep breath, and pulled away the cover, and couldn't believe what she saw.  
  
*********  
  
Good cliffhanger huh? That's all for chapter 3, hope it was good. You'll find out who she meets next chapter of course.  
  
Well, please review, I'm having a pretty good time writing it; it's becoming rather interesting even for me! 


	4. Aeris Lives Chapter 4

In the last chapter Aeris was just going to feed the vicious cloaked specimen, and is just going to find out what it is...  
  
*********  
  
Aeris pulled away the cover to the specimen tank and gasped - it was just like Red XIII!  
  
"Who are you?" It asked. It had a feminine voice and was tatooed in the same place as Red XIII, but with a XIV which meant 14, Aeris was suprised to see.  
  
"My name is Aeris," she said, not thinking whether the unknown beast could read or not. She could.  
  
"Says Aaron on your name tag."  
  
"I know. Can I trust you not to say anything to Hojo?"  
  
"I won't tell Hojo nothing. Hey, can I have dinner please?"  
  
"Sure," Aeris opened up the feeding section of the tank and inserted the Chocobo liver.  
  
"Ugh, Chocobo livers. The same every day. I am sick of them. And to think he feeds me them too! No Iron in them whatsoever! You'd think he was trying to make me wask or something. But that's exactly it. He won't want me ripping the shit out of him if I get the chance. By the way, why do you think I should trust you? You're from Shin-Ra too."  
  
"Not exactly." Aeris smiled, and took off the slimy soldier helmet.  
  
"So you were once a specimen too? I share your pain. See this bandage? That's where I got slit in the leg when he injected me with something."  
  
"That's awful!" Aeris looked at the time. Only 2010. "So why does he keep you in the dark?"  
  
"You know the effect on most animals when you cover their head and all they can see is black, how it calms them? Well he thinks it'll work on me too. I'm just putting on a front. I'm just as pissed of as ever, but if I can get his trust, I may be able to escape at some point soon, you know?" she cringed, "So, why are you here, even though you aren't even working for Shin-Ra? Don't they know?"  
  
"I was stationed here. I beat up a soldier and snuck in. I am here in this particular place by pure luck, exactly the place I wanted to get to. I am here to find out information on Jenova. I want to help my friends defeat it, but they think I am dead. I had to fake it so I could do my own part, but I am also risking my life to the extreme. Hojo really wants me back, you see?"  
  
"I understand. Hey listen, sometime before this week is over can you let me out of here? We could pretend I attacked you, and..."  
  
"I'm really sorry. I was ordered to kill anything that attacks. Apparently I'm a level 4 common soldier so it would be no problem. But I promise, I will get you out somehow, even if I have to walk in through the front door to get you. It could take a while, but..."  
  
"It's okay. I've sort of given up on escaping anyway. I've been here for a few weeks already. Hojo said that Specimen Number 13 escaped just before I was discovered, so I couldn't help 'save a dying race'."  
  
"Oh my goodness, Red XIII..."  
  
"Do you know him, Aeris?"  
  
"Why yes, I do. I helped him escape. Do you know him?"  
  
"Nope. Wish I could meet him though, we're probably the last of our race, Hojo says. The other 12 died during experimentation."  
  
"That's totally sickening..."  
  
"I'd say! But then, if you were able to get Red XIII out, then you'd be able to get me out right?" she was ecstatic. Aeris felt really sorry for her.   
  
"I'll try my best," said Aeris, "but for now, I must not rouse suspicion, this is a very critical moment in this mission I myself took on. I can't screw it up yet."  
  
"That's okay, but will you talk to me every day at least?"  
  
"Of course I will, but Hojo will be back in three days time, and I cannot let on who I am, and in his prescence speak, move or do anything for that matter. Just...guard the floor."  
  
"Okay. While we're here, might as well have some fun, huh? You wanna know the password to Hojo's computer?"  
  
"Oh my gosh!" Aeris was surprised, "you KNOW the PASSWORD?"  
  
"Of course. Long hours sitting here watching Hojo has taught me a great many things. His computer is that silver one over there. As soon as you turn it on all you need to do is write his username and password. His username typically is Hojo and his pass word is Cetra."  
  
'Why doesn't that come as a surprise to me?' Aeris thought to herself.  
  
She typed in the password. It came up as incorrect. She tried again. Incorrect. Then, she had an idea. She tried  
  
[Hojo]  
  
[Ancient]  
  
Access Granted.  
  
Hojo must have changed the access code. Hey, never mind, so long as she was in.  
  
She was inside some sort of data storage program. There were heaps of different projects Hojo was working on, but Aeris wanted to ignore most of them; she didn't know what most of them were anyway.  
  
Onscreen was a large list of data she was able to veiw all too easily thanks to... Aeris just realised she didn't know Red XIV's real name.  
  
"Hey, um, if I may ask, what is your real name?"   
  
"I have no name."  
  
*********  
  
That's all for chapter 4. Review please. No more about Aeris and her dying without blood. We all saw with our own eyes that she got stabbed, and there was no blood whatsoever on there, and the perfect excuse for me to write a Fic about Aeris remaining alive, and it would explain a damn lot of things about Final Fantasy VII that were unanswered. 


	5. Aeris Lives Chapter 5

Here you go. Chapter 5. Not a lot to do these days so hopefully I can get a lot done, I'm sort of also waiting for reveiws to come in. I've had several good ones but also some bad ones but I'll keep writing anyway and see what happens reveiw-wise.  
  
*********  
  
"You have no name? Why?"  
  
"You know how I said I've been here for a few weeks already?"  
  
"Uhhh...yeah?"  
  
"Well...just not in this division. In the other division I still lived under Shin-Ra but I was free, if you'd call it that still being under Shin-Ra. But I was alone. I was also happier. I think they originally caught me when I was still too young to know my name, so I have none."  
  
'How sad...' Aeris thought to herself sadly.   
  
"Hey, Aeris?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Why don't...you...give me a name?"  
  
There wasn't much difference between the male and females, just the females were a lighter colour. She did have a strong sense of femininity about her though.  
  
Aeris, thinking, finally decided, "alright, I will call you Aetherius." ***Latin for Heavenly/Celestial***  
  
"Wow! Thanks. My name is now Aetherius. Well I'd better get used to it because it's there for life. Uhh...what's my name again?"  
  
Aeris searched around onscreen for something useful and found a list of files:  
  
Indated  
  
X  
  
XI  
  
Jenova Project  
  
Reactor Nibel  
  
XII  
  
XIII  
  
Code (C)  
  
Code (Z)  
  
Project (X)  
  
XIV  
  
Outdated  
  
I  
  
II  
  
III  
  
Project (I)  
  
IV  
  
V  
  
VI  
  
VII  
  
VIII  
  
IX  
  
Specimen 10.34  
  
Specimen 10.35  
  
Specimen 10.36  
  
Specimen 10.37  
  
Specimen 10.38  
  
"Okay, so I think I just type in the Jenova Project... ... ...Oh, here we go..."  
  
"Hey, Aetherius, I'm guessing Hojo calls you Red XIV?"  
  
"That was my specimen name, yes."  
  
'Damn, she's his most recent project! I wonder what he has instore for her..."  
  
Jenova Project:  
  
Origin  
  
Status  
  
The Codes (-)  
  
The Cetra  
  
XIV  
  
'XIV? I think I should check it out," thought Aeris, "Oh my god!"  
  
"Is there a problem Aeris?"  
  
"N-nothing..."  
  
Project XIV:  
  
Through extensive testing, we have eventually discovered that no humans are able to survive testing through the Jenova Project, therefore, we are risking our final specimen to test the efficiency of the Jenova Project on beasts. We will inject Project Red XIV with the latest Jenova (B) samples and then leave it for a few days. If the beast survives we will begin to expose her to a low degree of Mako energy, slowly working up until the result is satisfactory.  
  
'My goodness!' thought Aeris, 'that's disgusting!'  
  
Aetherius saw Aeris frown. "Is there a problem?"  
  
"Yes, there is," said Aeris, not knowing how to explain, "Aetherius, do you happen to know what Hojo injected in you or how long ago?"  
  
"No idea what it is, but he injected me with it a couple of days ago."  
  
"Aetherius, we've got to get you out of here. Something really bad is going to happen in three days time." Aeris didn't want to explain what exactly is going on.  
  
Aetherius was beginning to get worried. "What kind of bad stuff?"  
  
"It's really too horrible to explain, you know? I really don't want to tell you. It might really upset you, and if we just get you out of here, you won't have to know."  
  
"Really..."  
  
Aeris nodded. "Listen, we are going to make a break for it in two or three days time. Before Hojo gets back anyway."  
  
"O-kay..." Aetherius didn't really feel like talking anymore.  
  
Aeris checked the time and realised that her shift was nearly over, and went to shut down the computer.  
  
"Exit password? How mad could they get? Hey, Aetherius, do you know the-" Aeris stopped. Aetherius had just fallen asleep. "Oh, great. What to do now? I know! ... ... [Ancient] ... ..."  
  
Exit granted.  
  
"How obsessed does he get?!" Aeris said aloud, and went and covered Aetherius' tank with the black sheet as not to rouse suspicion and also replaced the soldier helmet onto her head, otherwise that would cause many questions.  
  
A few minutes later, the next shift arrived, and she had to undo the lockdown on the room, and give the next guy the lockdown codes, and left.  
  
She ended up going to stay at the inn in Sector 6, who mysteriously gave her the room for free.  
  
She had to set this weird Shin-Ra watch to wake her up at 0900 hours so she could be there by 1000, finally worked it out, and went to bed for the night.  
  
All the way back in Icicle Inn, a poor Shin-Ra soldier woke up from his few-day coma half-naked in the bushes feeling very cold. He was frostbitten and everything. Poor guy. He remembered the girl who had done him in and tried to keep her in mind.  
  
*********  
  
That's chapter 5! I think it was rather short actually. Hojo's PC menu just makes the Fic seem longer. I'll just post this one up anyway, since it seemed like a good place to finish.  
  
In the upcoming chapters:  
  
- An early returner. Goddammit!  
  
- Someone put on some banjo escape music!  
  
- The story will get more interesting, promise! 


	6. Aeris Lives Chapter 6

Hi again! Chapter 6 is finally here. Sorry for the wait! Yesterday I posted up a reference section for those of you who may have forgotten the game, so I can show you all the wonderful in which I was able to incorporate the story of the Fanfiction into the storyline of the game without disrupting the storyline, and making it all believeable. Well, enjoy the next chapter!  
  
*********  
  
Aeris woke up early the next morning. She thought she would be able to sleep well with all that work yesterday, but she couldn't. She had 2 hours before she had to be at Floor 68 so she could do whatever until then, so she went for a walk throughout the Slums.  
  
After about 10 minutes she found herself at her old house; Elmyra must've been worried sick, so she decided to pay a visit, but only to find no-one there. on the fridge she found a note: "Marlene and I have gone to find a safer place." This left Aeris a bit uneasy, seeing as the Shin-Ra were probably still after Elmyra for information about her. Soon Aeris decided not to worry about it, and headed towards the Sector 3 Slums.  
  
Aeris wondered how she was going to get into the Shin-Ra building, if she was caught using the elevator. The commander said they normally weren't allowed to use the Executive elevator. She made her way there anyway, since she knew of no other way.  
  
She boarded the elevator, and pushed the 68 Floor button. "Hold it a second!" somebody yelled and the Turks entered the elevator; she was probably in trouble now, and decided to prepare for a fight, but remembered she was 'Aaron' and that there was probably nothing they could do about it. "Floor 39 please," said Reno, "Hey, I thought common soldiers don't use the Executi-wait-you're Aaron. Yes, you're all cleared to use this elevator seeing asyou're guarding Floor 68. I'm sure General Commander Anchors has leaked out everything there is to know about Hojo's experiments. Dumb bastard."  
  
Aeris actually hadn't heard too much about them, so she decided to make a comment, in the most masculine voince she could muster, of course: "I know! He said a lot about Jenova treatments on beasts and things, and to be honest, it's getting me quite worried."  
  
"We knew he'd probably go that far." said Elena, "But Hojo has gone so far that it is inhumane. Did you hear about Project (X)? He only called it Project (X) because he didn't know the actual name of the Ancient, but we all know it was Aeris."  
  
"Yes, I heard about Project (X)" Aeris lied. She was soooo going to check the computer about that today!  
  
"Here's our floor," said the normally silent Rude, "you do however know, how important it is that you do not say anything. Hojo would have your head in a specimen tank if you said anything."  
  
"Yes, sir," said Aeris, annoyed having to answer to a Turk. She did not even know how surpreme their authority was, but she wasn't going to test it. Not alone, at least.  
  
A few minutes later Aeris arrived at her own stop, exited, and relieved the current guard of his position, and prepared for a very boring day. Well, a very boring day until the lockdown at about 1900 hours anyway. Then she'd find out the truth about Project (X).  
  
All day she waited quite patiently. In that time, she'd managed to capture one person trying to break into the floor, but turns out they were trying to get upto Rufus' office.  
  
When 1900 hours finally came, she locked down the floor and turned the security system off as the commander had said so. She woke up Aetherius who was looking rather sickly, and fed her the Chocobo livers again.  
  
Turns out Aetherius got sick due to the Jenova treatment, but Aeris didn't want it to go on any further. She's have to break her out tomorrow or the next day.  
  
Tonight, Aetherius told Aeris where Hojo's private locker is, and the code. This was gonna be fun.   
  
[36] [10] [58] [97]. Hey that sounds familiar. Heh. As if anyone couldn't guess that! Let's see what's in here. Hah!  
  
Aeris found some...Black Hair Dye! "I knew he was getting old! Might as well put the joke on him..." she pocketed the [Black Hair Dye]. Further back she found a register full of names. She put that aside for a moment and checked to see what else was in there. Smuggled specimen jars with something's cell tissues or whatever in them. That creeped Aeris out, wondering who's or what creatures tissues that could be. Pocket Mirror, spare pair of glasses, gumboot, some old brussels sprouts?! To Aeris' horror they had eyes. She decided to get out of there!  
  
Checking the register, she realised that Hojo runs a Science class! Now there will be more sick headed deranged mad scientists running about. This worried Aeris but she got over it. Instead she decided to feed it to the paper shredder. That machine had a bit of fun for a couple of minutes.  
  
After that Aeris wasted no time and switched on Hojo's computer, entered in the password, and opened the menu. Next to Project (X) it had an 'updated' sign next to it. She clicked it and it said that Hojo had entered it through a different location. That didn't matter to Aeris. She just wanted to know what was going on. She was 'dead' for God's sake!  
  
She opened up Project (X) and stared on in horror:  
  
From various sources we have come to learn that the last Ancient is dead, however, the experimentation will continue.  
  
"What the heck?" Aeris was shocked, "I can't believe he would do this!"  
  
The Ancient, which henceforth will be referred ot as Ancient (X) (due to her name not being known), was not sighted with the opposing party AVALANCHE at the 'Promised Land', and we have further traced it back to not being sighted at Icicle Inn, but was sighted at the Temple of the Ancients when the Turks were dispatched there. It has led us to believe that following AVALANCHEs tracks will lead us to the Ancient, therefore, we have narrowed out search down to the City of the Ancients, Forgotten Capital. Her whereabouts is still unknown but this week search of that area will commence.  
  
Aeris felt rather sick now. But then she couldn't help laughing. They'd never find her there!  
  
She wanted to get out of there, but she would have to survive 5 more days of work guarding the floor.  
  
She'd completely forgotten about researching Jenova, for she had the feeling she'd be finding out all she wanted to very soon.  
  
*********  
  
This is probably my last chapter for a little over a week, for I'm going away on holiday. However, when I have nothing to do there, I'll probably start writing down the next chapter on paper, and when I get back there'll be a few new chapters, or one very long chapter. Think I'll settle for one very long chapter though. 


	7. Aeris Lives Storyline Explanation

Final Fantasy VII - Aeris Lives  
  
By Crisis from the Sky  
  
Storyline Reference  
  
This is not part of the Fic, sorry, but it is a place where I write down parts of my Fic at the times they go into the Final Fantasy VII storyline. Confused yet? You'll get it in time...I hope.  
  
Might as well begin now anyways.  
  
This is also where I will post my FAQs for the story, so if you're wondering about anything, just e-mail me and I'll post your questions and answers here. Try to include your username too but if you can't or don't want to it's okay too.  
  
Aeris' Death  
  
Okay - you've all seen this happen, so that's no problem, right? This is where our storyline splits up.  
  
Cloud - Leaving the Forgotten Capital  
  
Aeris - Recollecting the Materia and viewing the Ancients' projector and recording memories.  
  
Cloud - Crossing the Snowfields  
  
Aeris - Leaving the Forgotten Capital  
  
Cloud - Icicle Inn; snooping around  
  
Aeris - Crossing the Snowfields  
  
Cloud - Icicle Inn; confronting Elena  
  
Aeris - Icicle Inn; returning to her old home  
  
Cloud - Icicle Inn; Checking out Aeris' place  
  
Aeris - Icicle Inn; At her place  
  
Cloud - Heading across the Snowfields to get to North Crater  
  
Aeris - Icicle Inn - Posing as a Shin-Ra soldier  
  
(3 days later)  
  
Cloud - North Crater  
  
Aeris - Junon  
  
Cloud - Lifestream  
  
Barret - Clutches of Shin-Ra; got caught that day  
  
Aeris - Midgar 


	8. Aeris Lives Chapter 7

Sorry this one took so long to go up. As I said, I have been on holiday so instead I made this chapter extra long.  
  
*********  
  
Aeris woke up the next morning with a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She hurried over to the Shin-Ra HQ ten minutes early but then the longer than usual elevator ride made up for that. When she got into the Lab, she found the other shift guy just standing there. When Aeris called out to him, there was no resonse, so then she went and tapped him on the shoulder. He snapped awake, which left Aeris very relieved. But, he had fallen asleep standing up! Embarassed, the other soldier tried to get out of the room as soon as possible.   
  
Ten minutes later someone was coming up the elevator. Aeris noticed it was a lot busier in the Shin-Ra HQ today. Maybe that was why she was so worried, that she wouldn't be able to get a clear escape.  
  
The elevator stopped on her floor and Aeris held her breath; she had a pretty bad feeling. The door slid open. It was...just the commander. She sighed in relief but also in loathing as he stepped out of the elevator. Time for another long lecture again.  
  
"'Mornin' Aaron!" said the commander cheerfully.  
  
"Good morning, sir," Aeris replied, "what brings you up here on such a busy morning?"  
  
"That exactly," said the commander, "some of Shin-Ra were ordered to return to the building to prepare for the execution of AVALANCHE here."  
  
'AVALANCHE is being executed here?' Aeris thought to herself, 'then, I might be able to help them get away!'  
  
"Of course, they won't be being executed here. Risk of the AVALANCHE base being moved in the Slums and backup being prepared for them."  
  
Aeris' heart sank.  
  
"But even better, or worse for our part, 'cos we hate the guy, is that Hojo is returning a day early. Today. He arrives in about 30 minutes actually, be prepared to do whatever he says up until his departure again tomorrow. Him and his team are leaving to find the body of an escaped specimen then. Good science class he has there. If you're into science you might as well join, but if not then stay right away, it could get totally disgusting. I heard that one of his students allowed Hojo to use him as a specimen for some odd reason."  
  
"Thanks for the tip sir, I'll keep it in mind." Aeris was horrified; half an hour? There'll be no time to get Aetherius out! Gotta think of something, fast!  
  
"So anyway, even sooner than when I said now, Hojo will return, so listen to his orders, and also, you have every right to get out if he wants to do Mako infusion on you. Why do I say this? Because if you were one level higher than you are, you'd be in SOLDIER, and that's a good enough reason for Hojo."  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"We'll, I gotta run, other soldiers to dispatch." And with that, he was gone. All of a sudden, Aeris wished he was still here, despite the fact that she can't stand the way he talks so much, but he was okay.  
  
Now Aeris really began to wonder what to do. She wished Cloud was here, but her senses told her that it would not be possible for Cloud at this point, or any point for quite a while. You could say he was out of commission.  
  
Aeris whispered to Aetherius: "Hey, we're going to get you away from here today girl! Hojo will be back in twenty minutes, it'll be very hard, so please, don't say anything!" She could now sense Aetherius' fear, and felt sorry, but this wasn't exactly making a plan. So Aeris devised several possible plans. Very clever ones I must say, but most of them barely possible, so she just decided to go along with what happened at the time; if she had to fight her way out she would.  
  
Aeris' watch beeped: half an hour is up. Now to expect the bastard any time.  
  
At that second, Aeris could hear the elevator going up. She braced herself on the spot and tried to act like a normal soldier. The door opened, and who was to walk out, but Reno of the Turks. "Good day Aaron. Just heading on to the President's office. See ya." It was clear that Reno had become fond of 'Aaron', but Turks weren't really allowed to, so they just acted like nothing had happened. But this wasn't the person Aeris was waiting for. She could hear the elevator working again. It had to be Hojo this time! In walked one that Aeris was expecting to come soon after Reno. Elena, of the Turks. "Hi Aaron. You seen Reno?"  
  
"President's office," Aeris replied. She couldn't believe she just helped out one of the Turks!  
  
"Really? I'm gonna kill him! We were ordered to go the EXECUTIVE office! See? I listened for once," Elena rushed off.  
  
The elevator worked again. Sure was busy today. Aeris knew it would probably be Rude. The door opened and she visualised a bald man with cool shades on in a blue suit, but instead in her line of vision was a horrendous looking old guy with black hair and silver streaks going through them, wearing a white lab coat. Guess who? Hojo. ***Aah! It's awful! My eyeeeeeeeeees!***  
  
Aeris didn't say anything when he walked in. But he approached her anyway. She tensed.  
  
"Hello. You must be...Aaron..." he said in his normal awful voice.  
  
"Yes sir." Aeris wasn't sure how to act in front of this bastard.  
  
"Please, call me Hojo." Hojo sneered. It was really bad on the eyes. "Oh, yes," he remembered something.  
  
Aeris could only watch as he stepped with an odd swiftness towards Aetherius' tank. All she could do was glare at him as he pulled off the cover to reveal a snarling, growling Aetherius. "Well hello, my beautiful specimen. You sure are lively today. That soldier there must have fed you well. Did you thank him?"  
  
Aetherius continued to snarl at Hojo, but that did not faze him at all. Hojo would just sneer at her.  
  
"Aaron, come here," ordered Hojo. It was part of Aeris orders TO take orders from Hojo, so she approached instantly. "Go fetch some Chocobo liver and feed the specimen for me will you?"  
  
Aeris obeyed her orders swifly.  
  
"Very good," Hojo sneered, "You'd make a good assistant if you had taken up science. No matter though."  
  
Aeris was insanely grossed out.  
  
Across the day Aeris had to do various jobs for Hojo. It got annoying after a while when Hojo said: "It's 1500 hours. You can have a two hour break then I want to see you back here at 1700 hours. I'm leaving for a while at precisely 1600 hours. Be back between 1640 to 1650, so if you accidentally arrive between then, don't be surprised if I'm not present. I will see you later."  
  
This was definately Aeris' chance. One of the plans she devised should come into action here.  
  
Aeris hurried to Sector 6, to the clothing store. Here, she purchased a tight black miniskirt and a white tank top. Anyone in Shin-Ra would find this familiar; the Tifa outfit! She then went to the bathroom at her room at the Inn and used her key item, [Black Hair Dye] that she had stolen from Hojo. She combed her hair out until it was straight and tyed it at the end in that funny way Tifa did. It was a remakable transformation. Lucky the dye was temporary.  
  
By 1610, she made it the the Shin-Ra building and amazingly made it to the 68th floor unnoticed because of the Executive elevator she was allowed to use. When she got in, she took one of the many blood samples (the one she used was a common soldiers' blood) and spilt half of it onto the floor and rushed to Aetherius' tank.   
  
"Aetherius, it's me, Aeris."  
  
"I know, I can smell you."  
  
"We're geting you out of here." Aeris kicked a hole into the side of the tank and Aetherius jumped out.  
  
"What's with the blood?" asked Aetherius.  
  
"A diversion. Come on, there's little time. They ran out and into the elevator, Aeris dripping little spots of blood until they got out of the Shin-Ra building safely.  
  
Outside, Aeris dropped the rest of the blood and then threw the specimen container in the garbage which was Sector 3.  
  
In the security division, they got a good shot of Tifa Lockheart and Specimen Red XIV on the executive elevator.  
  
After ten minutes of what seemed like endless running, they had made it to Aeris' house.  
  
"Here, Aeth, you'll be safe here. I need you to stay until I return tonight, okay?"  
  
"Okay Aeris."  
  
Here Aeris changed back into the soldier uniform and then left for the Shin-Ra building again.  
  
***From here onwards it is quite clear why I rated this fic what I did. If you are sensitive to violence, then I suggest you do not read any further.***  
  
It was quite clear that nobody had been here. Her plan was still in motion. Now, Aeris had to do the most terrible thing to herself that she'd ever done: she found a knife hanging on the wall with the experimental instruments, and slashed cut marks on her arm that were about the size of Aetherius' jaw. The pain was excrutiating and she couldn't believe she'd actually do it, but that was what she was prepared to go through for Aetherius. She even had to gauge in where the larger teeth were. She would never have had been able to withstand this pain if she hadn't been inpaled by the Masamune beforehand, but this pain was worse.  
  
Aeris began to feel dizzy, but went onto phase 2 of the plan. First she discarded to bloody knife into the waste disposal chute, then she went and lay next to the blood on the floor and let her own blood drain into it and mix with it. There she fell unconscious.  
  
Hojo walked into the Lab to find 'Aaron' lying in a pool of blood. He had not quite been surprised as there was plenty of blood in the elevator also.  
  
Aeris awoke to Hojo, attempting to wake her.  
  
"You're up. Stand up. We'll get you something to put on that." Hojo went over to the bandage container.  
  
"Use this to clean the wound, and then cover it with this." He handed Aeris some bright yellow cream and some cotton buds, along with a bandage. Aeris definately did not trust the yellow cream, but she cleaned the 'bite wound' with the cotton bud and applied the cream anyway. The cream stung like Hell, so bad that it eventually began to numb. Then she covered it up with the bandage and Hojo then handed her a safety pin to hold it together. He had that usual sneer on his face and said "can't have our guard-assistant dying on us now, can we? Here's a mop, I'd like you to clean the mess."   
  
So Aeris did clean the mess.  
  
"It seems that my precious Specimen Red XIV had escaped..." Hojo said calmly. "What happened?"  
  
"I...saw...a girl. She had...long...black...hair and a white...tank top, as well as...a black mini...skirt. Fairly attractive also...kicked open tank..." Aeris was faking it really good now.  
  
"Well, it's pretty obvious that it was kicked open. Now...the specimen attacked you and they left. There was nothing else?"  
  
"No...sir..."  
  
"Not sir, Hojo, please."  
  
"Sorry..."  
  
"You can go as soon as you've cleaned up this mess. Rest up and eat heaps. Get better and come back tomorrow. And for God's sake, get yourself a new uniform!"  
  
"Yes, Hojo," and Aeris left. The plan had gone well.  
  
Hojo sneered. "Yessss...get better. I am going to restart my plan tomorrow, and you will be my first, Aaron...!" Hojo had a truly excited look on his face. "Tifa Lockheart...it was you, wasn't it?"  
  
"Aeris! Are you alright?" Aetherius looked worried.  
  
"I'm fine, and glad, you're safe." Aeris told Aetherius the entire story, from when she had found out what Hojo wanted to do to her and Aetherius. Aetherius was truly horrified.  
  
"Sorry you had to cut yourself for me."  
  
"It's okay."  
  
"I owe you my life."  
  
"No you don't."  
  
"Is there any way I can possibly repay you?"  
  
"No."  
  
"You sure?"  
  
"Yes," but then Aeris stopped and thought about it, "you know what? I think there is something you can do for me..."  
  
"Anything. You name it."  
  
"When this is all over, there's somebody I'd like you to meet," said Aeris, thinking about Red XIV. Red was meant to be the last of his kind but obviously not now.  
  
"Okay. But that doesn't sound like much of a favour."  
  
"Oh, it is. But if you really want to do me a serious favour, then this is what you can do."  
  
Hojo paced around the Laboratory. Then he heard footsteps. The worker from the security division was finally here.  
  
"Mr. Hojo, it is ready. Please follow me," said the worker. They went up to the security tape playback room.  
  
"Lucky mother bought heaps of dry foods we can cook up. I'm starved," said Aeris, looking in the cupboard. She boiled up some water and added some pasta into it, then she got the few remaining vegetables from the garden and cooked them too. Then she realised; Aetherius. Meat.  
  
"Hey, Aetherius, I'm just going to the shops to get you some meat for dinner. Hang on."  
  
"I'll go with you!" she ran towards the door.  
  
"No, you can't. You might get spotted by the Shin-Ra."  
  
"Okay. But if you're not back in ten minutes...!"  
  
Aeris stepped into the Sector 5 general store.  
  
"Alice! You haven't come in a lone time! How are you?"  
  
"Just fine, thanks," said Aeris. That man never really knew her name. Now it was a good thing. "Can I please have a large pile of steak. Umm...maybe 5kg, and about that much chicken as well?"  
  
"Sure. Never thought I'd imagine you buying meat though. The steak is 2000 Gil for that much, and the chicken is 5000. Sorry about the price but chickens are getting scarce these days. Eaten by monsters instead."  
  
"That's okay. I'm having someone stay over for a while and they like meat a lot, so this is a few days' worth.  
  
Aeris stumbled out of the store carrying a huge pile of meat that robbed her of her ability to see ahead, but she sort of knew the way without looking luckily. It was still a sight to be seen though.  
  
In the security tape playback room, Hojo gawked at the video, indeed it did look just like Tifa Lockheart, but it wasn't. For one, Tifa's body shape is slightly different, two, Tifa was in a coma at the WEAPON faction, and three, this 'Tifa' had green eyes! The real Tifa has brown eyes! Hojo did wonder who it was though.  
  
"Here you go Aetherius. Dinner time!"  
  
"Jeez, how much did this cost, Aeris?"  
  
"Not much. I'm actually pretty well off. My mother left her credit card here."  
  
Aetherius didn't even know what a credit card was, but right now that was the smallest problem to go throught her mind, in comparison to the Hojo stuff. There was real meant in front of her! Well, meat that she didn't actually feel bad eating.  
  
"I definately could not go through all of this in one go, even if I hadn't eaten for a month!"  
  
"That's the point. Well, eat as much as you like now then."  
  
"Thank for every so far, Aeris!"  
  
Actually, this girl did look oddly familiar to Hojo, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.  
  
The next morning, Aeris was just leaving for 'work'.  
  
"Where you going, Aeris?"  
  
"Where have I gone every day for the last 3 days so far?"  
  
"...Oh."  
  
"Don't worry, counting this day there's just 4 days left, then we can go wherever we like."  
  
"...Okay. I really do appreciate all you've done for me."  
  
Hojo handed Aeris a photo. "I want you to hold onto this. If you see this girl again, kill her. That'll teach her not to steal my precious specimens any more!" Hojo waved one fist in the air angrily. Aeris smiled innocently at him from behind the soldier helmet.  
  
'I've been acting so strange these past few days, but then, it's kind of hard to survive on your own. Cloud, I'm sorry...'  
  
Hojo walked off mumbling something about Sephiroth and how it was a good thing that AVALANCHE was being executed, and then he came back. "Listen, I have just came to a decision as of now," he sneered in that usual gross way which in the end gave Aeris the impression that he could not control the majority of his facial muscles, "Today I depart for the Ancient City to look for a human carcass and I request your prescence in our search. It shouldn't take any more than a few hours. We will return tonight."  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
The Forgotten Capital was...haunting. Basically Hojo and everyone else split up and went to look all over. Of course when they all met up after a few hours they returned with no news, not that there were too many places to look through of course.  
  
'The dead is among you...' thought Aeris jokingly.  
  
They returned at 1500 hours. Everyone split up and Hojo and Aeris went back to Floor 68.  
  
"Nothing. That is extremely odd. We worked for hours tracing back her location. I just hope that they did not cremate her. No fun for me then. You know what I was going to do? Extract all the cells from her, and then gather cells from various beings across the planet, and compare them. You never know if you're part Ancient or not. But this girl, was a direct Ancient, forgetting the father."  
  
By 1800, Hojo had returned to check on Aeris and also brought a small peice of horror. Well, not really, but Hojo is walking, talking, breathing horror anyway, so that was bad enough.  
  
"I need to inject you with these antibacterial fluids, you never know what that thing might have put in you yesterday."  
  
Aeris was way beyond not trusting Hojo. She really didn't want to go through with this, God knows he may have put in there, but something told her to go through with it, for if he discovered who she really was it'd probably be mush worse.  
  
He helped her roll up her sleeve all the way upto where the bite was.  
  
"You are scrawny for a man, let alone level 4 soldier. How did they let you in?"  
  
"Talent." Aeris lied.  
  
Hojo virtually stabbed her with the needle and injected some clear orangey-looking fluid. Aeris knew to panic if it was anywhere near the hue of green.  
  
"There. You should not catch any sorts of parasites from that disgusting beast now."  
  
Blood was starting to pour out of the point where the needle had entered, so Hojo gave Aeris what he had given her yesterday, then he went back to work.  
  
"How do you feel?" Hojo questioned Aeris with a snicker. Aeris was getting sick of that look.  
  
"Fine," Aeris replied.  
  
"Oh really?" Hojo seemed suspicious, "never mind. I'll let you go early tonight. Just come back at the normal time, and check the wound occasionally. If anything abnormal happens, come see me."  
  
"Okay- I mean- Yes, sir!"   
  
'Silly Aeris!' she thought to herself, 'I think I just let my real voice go! He may suspect me now!'  
  
"Good night, Aaron," said Hojo. He had really stressed the Aaron part, leaving Aeris really worried.  
  
The next morning Aeris woke up early and checked the wound as Hojo had said. Nothing unusual. Was something meant to happen?  
  
Aeris had gotten used to using the Executive elevator, and took it as usual. But when she reached the top, she did not expect the following event:   
  
"Aeris is your name, isn't it?" asked Hojo, "Aeris Gainsborough." Hojo grabbed the soldier helmet and pulled it off and shoved a tube upto her face. "No, should I say, Aeris Gast."   
  
Aeris blacked out and saw no more.  
  
*********  
  
Okay, so if was quite as long as I said it would be, but I felt I had to post something today, seeing as I got back from my holiday today. It gets a bit more gorey from there but don't worry too much.  
  
Upcoming:  
  
- Take a random guess about who returns - anyone. Just guess!  
  
- Stuff happens. 


	9. Aeris Lives Chapter 8

Aeris woke later on, but all she saw was dark. Unsure whether she was actually awake or not, she decided not to say anything in case Hojo was nearby. She felt sharp pains almost all over her body, and decided this was real. She dozed again.  
  
Later on, a huge crashing noise woke Aeris. It was plain daylight; what she experienced earlier must've been nighttime.  
  
The crashing noise was Aetherius thrashing round trying to escape the clutches of several Shin-Ra soldiers. Recaught, and pretty obvious where they would've found her too.   
  
Since there was not really any time to worry about how Aetherius was doing, feeling bad, Aeris checked her surroundings instead. She couldn't help Aetherius unless she could help herself first.  
  
Aeris found the source of all her pain. He wrists were slit, and her veins were now connected to two tubes, in which her blood was circulating through, into a strange machine, and back into her body again.  
  
Next to her was a computer screen, connected to the odd machine, stating:  
  
Blood Type O  
  
Cetra Type B  
  
Jenova Positive  
  
It really puzzled Aeris then.  
  
"Wonderful isn't it?" said a sickly familar voice, "the wonders of technology today."  
  
Aeris didn't say anything to Hojo.   
  
"Silent are we?" Hojo was sneering, "well, let's get you fixed up, shall we?"  
  
Hojo disconnected the tubes, and quickly wrapped up the gauges.  
  
Now on the computer screen showed something else:  
  
Jenova Project Code [C]_Success  
  
Jenova Project Code [Z]_Deceased  
  
Jenova Project Code [A]_Just in. Being assessed  
  
Jenova Project Code [S]_Whereabouts currently unknown. Specimen has become too unstable mentally to assess.  
  
"You really want to know about that?" asked Hojo, "I'll tell you now anyway. As an Ancient, you are a very interesting specimen. We could not risk your death for anything. When you were actually born I had you injected with Jenova cells. Several days ago, my Jenova Reunion theory had become a success, but you, were not there. A couple of days later we had squeezed some information out of your friend, Mr Barret Wallace, that you had been murdered by Sephiroth. Of course, even you were attracted to the Jenova reunion subconsciously until then, but when you had come up with a new plan, that desire overtook the need to follow Jenova.  
  
Of course the day we went to visit the location in which you had 'died', you weren't there. Obviously because you weren't dead.  
  
When Specimen Red XIV had escaped with Tifa Lockheart, I instantly saw through that, mainly because Tifa Lockheart is currently still unconscious at the Shin-Ra Weapons Base in Junon. I had Shin-Ra exchange the info from Barret Wallace in exchange for her life, but that was just delaying the inevitable; their deaths."  
  
"Hojo," interupted Aeris.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"You talk too much."  
  
"I believe it is you who is in the life-death situation here, Ms Gast. You will listen to what I have to say. So anyway, this probably looks familiar to you, yes?"  
  
Hojo held up a knife covered in blood.  
  
"A good knife that was, anyway. So you were impaled by Sephiroth. You would not have survived that unless you had some Jenova in you. It has an effect that can make you hold onto life, even when you suffer the worst of wounds. You could know that if you speak to Cloud Strife. Of course, his location is currently unknown. We believe he may be dead. But it doesn't matter, now that I know he was a success."  
  
"...You're disgusting."  
  
Now that Hojo had left her strapped up all alone in the lab, Aeris took the time to think about what had just gone on.  
  
'Jenova cells? Me? I don't believe him! But then again, sure explains why I survived Sephiroth. I really wondered why I had forseen my survival, but, damn, Jenova cells?'  
  
'Cloud, where are you?'  
  
'Tifa, I'm sorry for thinking ill of you, I was under stress, I really do care about you, and you probably do me...actually, you're probably my best female friend I have...'  
  
'Barret, has AVALANCHE gone too far? Execution, huh? Lucky, I now forsee your survival.'  
  
'Red, when we get out of here, I'll introduce you to Aetherius, and you'll see that you're not the last of your race...'  
  
'My past really must've been screwed up for everything to turn out this way. But I'll get out of here!'  
  
'Cait Sith...no...Reeve is in this building somewhere, and mother probably believes me to be dead. I'm sorry...'  
  
'I'll find out about my past'  
  
'I just have to get out of here.'  
  
*********  
  
Running out of ideas? Not me! But how Aeris escapes? Suggestions, please?  
  
- Aeris...escapes...maybe?  
  
- Something interesting for a change? 


	10. Aeris Lives Chapter 9

"So, Aeris, there are a few more questions I wish to ask you about the Cetra." Aeris awoke to that statement of Hojos'.  
  
She didn't respond.  
  
"You are awake, Gast, the brain monitor tells me." Aeris still didn't respond  
  
Aeris suddenly clicked on and realised the pain she was in; there appeared to be some weird device connected to either side of her head, and that, she figured, was where the pain was. Then, she responded to a swift slap on the cheek.  
  
"I would first die before I say anything to the likes of YOU," said Aeris bravely. She wasn't sure if she could manage however, if it was going to get worse than this, but then she remembered what Cloud had been through, and that gave her strength to continue. Cloud had been through this kind of pain, but worse, for about 5 years possibly, but then, so had Zack.  
  
"I know more about you, than you may think, but I just need to know a few more things before I can confirm my theory."  
  
"You and your stupid theories are a load of crap. What I don't understand is why you want to know so much about the Cetra anyway. We are just a figment of the past, me being the last one, it won't really matter what happened to us once I die, you're just going to destroy the planet with your stupid Mako power anyway!" That little speech made Aeris feel good for some reason. Maybe it was because of the look in the poor professor's face.  
  
Hojo didn't say anything. He just walked off.  
  
'Hey, that turned out pretty well,' thought Aeris to herself. 'I should try that more often.'  
  
Looking over at the computer screen, Aeris saw that it was reading something from inside her head. It was showing on the computer screen in numbers and waves, which she did not understand. It annoyed her a little, wondering what was being read in her mind, but then, she had a theory of her own in which she decided to put into practise.  
  
Aeris used an old trick she learnt when she was young, to shut out any intruders from her mind. Surely it could work on a computer too. She relaxed and put the trick into practise. Surely enough, the wavy line thinned down into just a pixel, and the numbers slowed down until just one digit was showing up per minute instead of the usual tens of thousands. That, she hoped, would piss Hojo off!  
  
Aeris awoke to Hojo's voice.  
  
"Hmmm...this program is malfunctioning. Too bad. We will have to do it the hard way then."  
  
'I wonder what the hard way could be?' Aeris thought to herself.  
  
'(You will tell him everything.)'  
  
'You have no control over me now.'  
  
'(You may think that...your father...)'  
  
'My father is dead! He has nothing to do with this!'  
  
'(Oh, but he does, Aeris. Hojo will complete the final stage of the experiment, and Sephiroth...Hojo seems to have forgetten what he did...)'  
  
'Shut up, Jenova.'  
  
"Ms Gast, I have several questions I wish to ask you."  
  
Aeris stared blankly at Hojo.  
  
"Firstly, the Ancients, or Cetra, originated over 2000 years ago. Then Jenova came down onto the planet from a meteor. I have several theories from there, but I do believe you have the power to discover the truth."  
  
'(...it is, of course...)'  
  
"SHUT UP!" yelled Aeris.  
  
"Excuse me?!" said Hojo angrily.  
  
"Not you," said Aeris suddenly. "Oh wait, what am I saying? You shut up as well!"  
  
"Then who else are you talking to?"  
  
"No one. How do you think I have the powers to discover the truth then?"  
  
"You are an Ancient. You can apparently 'speak with the planet'," said Hojo.  
  
"What of it?" asked Aeris mysteriously.  
  
"So you can? Great! I want you to find out what happened from between the time when Jenova wiped out the Cetra, to when Gast and I found Jenova in a Geological stratum 33 years ago."  
  
"How will I go about that?"  
  
"'Speak with the planet'."  
  
"Yeah, right. The planet is way too noisy, and full of people. I can't hear what it is saying."  
  
"Yes you can. I know where too. Your favourite little church in the Sector 5 Slums." Hojo's phone started ringing. "Oh, just a minute. Hello? Yes...excellent! Oh, that...really? What do I need to do? The rocket? ... Where am I going to get some huge materia from? Oh yeah, I knew those Turks were good for something. They're not going? On holiday?! Just deploy the troops. Yes, yes...okay...bye... ... That was President Rufus. Your friends are going to be executed right about now, you know."  
  
'Tifa...I can't help you now...good luck.'  
  
"And Meteor is still on its way too." Hojo informed her.  
  
"..." Aeris didn't want to talk to him, but did anyway. "So why are you telling me all this?"  
  
"I just thought it would be nice if I told you, you know?"  
  
"What the...?"  
  
"Oh no, there's no need to thank me..." Hojo was sneering again. Then he gassed Aeris again, who passed out.  
  
*********  
  
Really sorry for not posting again in like, weeks, you know? I've been busy with school and work, but now I've had a few more ideas for the story, and I can therefore continue writing. Please review, it'll probably help motivate me to write more, okay? Yeah, thanks.  
  
Crisis from the Sky 


	11. Aeris Lives Chapter 10

...And here is chapter 10. I haven't worked too much on it lately, and the chapters appear to be getting shorter and shorter, so I'll try to type faster and have more ideas, maybe that'll work. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, I'm really pleased to see so many positive ones and to all the critics, read on because anything I wrote which may have appeared incorrect, may end up being explained, for example Aeris not dying due to have being injected with Jenova cells for instance. Sure, you chose the wrong time to criticise, but I wouldn't have even wrote this fic if it I didn't have a reason for her survival, and it also fills in some unexplained parts of Final Fantasy VII as well that have yet to come. Stay tuned.  
  
*********  
  
Aeris awoke in a very familiar place. The church in the Slums?! 'This must be a dream!' thought Aeris to herself.  
  
Wanting to check the surroundings, she headed outside. Hojo was standing there.  
  
"Aah!" he said happily, sneering as usual, "you're up. Don't try going anywhere, I've got the back surrounded as well. Now you will do me a favour. Speak with the planet. Have it tell you all there is to know about Jenova."  
  
"Who says I can speak with the planet here? What if I can't?"  
  
"Well, Tseng had been following you for some time, remember? He heard you muttering odd things to nothingness. It had to be something, otherwise, you're insane."  
  
"Like you?"  
  
"Yeah, like-hey! Just hurry up and do it already!"  
  
And that's how Aeris ended up walking upto the flowers, sitting down next to them, and having an odd conversation, pretending that she was speaking of Jenova.  
  
"So, how have you guys been? I haven't been too good, but it'll get better. I'm sorry I haven't been here to see you lately..."  
  
[You know Aeris, it's okay if you leak just a little bit of information to Hojo.]  
  
"Mother?"  
  
[Yes. Just tell him that the Cetra say that the Jenova will only bring disaster and chaos to the world if it is not destroyed soon, and that Jenova would greatly mutilate a creature if it is exposed to Jenova too highly. Such as the Cetra. Jenova poisoned us all. It has the ability to shapeshift, you see, but it weakens its life force greatly if it does so too much. That's why we were able to seal it away for so long, until your idiot of a father and his assistant, Hojo, uncovered it again. I was unpleased. Listen, you will soon discover something really serious about us that may make you want to change your mind about certain events, but don't let it turn you from the path of healing the Planet. Ultimately, you must make the right decision as to how the course of the future forges.]  
  
"But how can I now? The Planet is in danger of Meteor. Sephiroth summoned it."  
  
[Sephiroth...so the Black Materia has been unleashed once again.]  
  
"Once again?"  
  
[The Jenova you battle now arrived to this planet by use of the Black Materia. It crashed in the place you the Northern Crater. The Jenova was able to escape the Meteor there, and went to the place you call the Ancients' Temple. The Black Materia was abandoned there, and Jenova poisoned us as you know, and roamed the world. We sealed it up, and the Black Materia also. But then Jenova got uncovered and is free yet again. It must be destroyed.]  
  
"How mother? How must we destroy it?"  
  
[It cannot be defeated by just anybody. Only the purest of people can do it, the ones with the true intention of destroying it, and for nothing else. No cells, no experiments. Jenova is pure evil, so naturally the stronger force will win.]  
  
'Sounds kind of corny if you ask me...' Aeris thought to herself. 'Cloud and Tifa could do it, no sweat.'  
  
[I heard that. Anyway Aeris, you will soon be greatly distracted from the right path, but you must always do what is right, even if it will greatly hurt you. You may feel great loss or pain, but think carefully about the path ahead of you and it will open up to you. I leave you now, be extremely careful, or you may be meeting me here much sooner than you think.]  
  
"Goodbye, mother."  
  
"GAST," interrupted that disgusting, slimy voice. "What do you know then?"  
  
"Jenova..." started Aeris, "will bring destruction and chaos to the world if it is not destroyed soon, and that Jenova would greatly mutilate a creature if it is exposed to Jenova too highly. Such as the Cetra. Jenova poisoned us all." Aeris recited all she wanted him to know pretty good.  
  
"Oh really..." said Hojo. He didn't quite believe her, but left it at that. "Well then, back to the lab then, hmm?"  
  
Aeris didn't resist. She followed him all the way back to Shin-Ra floor 68 without complaint. The joke was on him now.  
  
"Now then, back to your cell then. You will get dinner soon."  
  
Aeris obeyed. She went back to her cell unguarded and shut the door behind her, which locked instantly.  
  
"I think..." said Hojo aloud, "I have a good specimen here."  
  
Aeris woke later, to nothing new. She had just had an interesting dream. It contained a dark figure that looked a lot like Cloud. She wondered if maybe Cloud and Tifa and the others were fighting against Sephiroth already. But how could Meteor be stopped? And even if it arrived, then what was the deal about the Jenova? Aeris then remembered her mothers' wise words about it. [The Jenova] [It]. That really made it sound like Jenova was just a title for an entire race of them. Did that mean that more would arrive on this Meteor? It WAS summoned by the Black Materia after all. So Jenova was just a space alien from an evil nearly invincible race. Aeris really hoped that wasn't the case, but she had a really bad feeling about it. Soon after that her meal arrived, and she ate it all this time. She definately had some hope left now. It actually tasted nice this time too, but she was suspicious of the chicken, hoping it wasn't Chocobo, like what Aetherius had to eat. Aetherius! Hojo had her caught again! Aeris pushed the buzzer on the door, and Hojo came instantly.  
  
"Yes, my precious Specimen?"  
  
"Professor, you haven't done anything to Aetherius, have you?"  
  
"Not at all, I've been studying you all week. Come to think about it, I have to feed her. You know what, you look like you could use some exercise, go out and feed her. You already know how to, of course."  
  
'What the?!' Aeris was truly stunned. He was going to actually let her out to do such a simple task?! "Y-yes, sir."  
  
"That's a good specimen. Now hurry up," snapped Hojo. And she did.  
  
"Hi Aeth, how's it going?"  
  
"Simply terrible! Hey, how'd Hojo let you out! Please, you gotta help me - it's boring here!"  
  
"Sssh, I will, I don't know when though. Here. Dinner. Gotta go." Aeris would've stayed to talk more, but Hojo was coming.  
  
"You done? Back to the cell."  
  
And Aeris obeyed.  
  
"-Good to see you!"  
  
"You were shot. Why are you here now?" questioned Hojo.  
  
"Aww...c'mon Professor, even you could answer that one! It was all you fault too! Thank-you for saving my life!"  
  
"Oh...yeah."  
  
"Don't talk life that man! This a happy reunion here! Y'know, like, the dude who did terrible experiments on me and stuff? And then there's me! The one who had been experimented on!"  
  
'I think the Mako has gotten through to his head,' Hojo thought to himself. He looked over at Aeris, of whom he'd taken while she was asleep, under gas to make double-sure, and moved through to here, to do yet another checkup on to examine any changes she may have possibly gone under due to the Jenova cells in her. What Aeris had told him the other day made him a bit tad paranoid, so he had decided to monitor any changes, no matter how subtle, she could have possibly undergone. But anyway, Aeris had awoken to hear that entire conversation. Mako? Was Cloud here? She wasn't going to go unnoticed now.  
  
"Cloud?"  
  
"Cloud, nah, not me. Here, see? Hair colour, completely different! Take a look."  
  
"I would, but you're way too close, I can't see anything."  
  
"Sorry, babe. Why's Hojo got you here anyway?"  
  
"Hey, you do NOT question the specimen about any of my research!"  
  
"Sorry old man. Aeris. How've you been?"  
  
"I've been better. I see that you have recovered from your illness. It's good to see you healthy again, Zack."  
  
*********  
  
Okay, give me your honest opinion to how this chapter went. Interesting? Boring? Did it drag on too much? Stuff like that.  
  
***Just for fun, if you like...***  
  
Sidestories! Would anybody reading like to make me some totally irrelivant sidestory to someone or something in Final Fantasy VII that would've happened at the time of a certain event. Eg: Event: When Aeris first helped evacuate Aetherius, Random Event: Rufus was just settling down to enjoy his favourite sunday afternoon tea, when Reno burst in, the door hit a chair, which hit the table, and the vibration knocked Rufus' plate off the table and into his lap. Rufus stared at Reno for just a moment, then he...  
  
*or*  
  
Far off in Bone Town, the staff there struck it lucky; they'd found another Ultima Materia.  
  
Yeah, stuff like that. I'd really appreciate sidestories, just for people to read while I'm writing up new chapters, and it will give you something to do while I'm still writing chapters, so yeah. You will get full credit for your sidestory, and I will always post my favourite one at the top of the sidestories page.  
  
E-mail all of your sidestories to me: Crisis_from_the_Sky@Hotmail.com.  
  
And while you're here, drop in a review.  
  
I've already started writing some of the next chapter as well; expect it soon...  
  
- Aeris discovers some shocking news, not only as Zack's return. It goes far further than that... 


	12. Aeris Lives Chapter 11

Hello! Yep, I'm posting a little more often than never now. I just got so interested in my own fic that I wanna know what happens next [Yes, that IS the case. I haven't planned ahead, it comes to me at the time.] and generally I have to just type more. Might as well get on with it now anyway.  
  
*********  
  
"Why have you come back then?" asked Hojo, looking rather annoyed.  
  
"Well, y'know, I figured since you captured everybody you could get near in Nibelheim while it was burning to death, I should come back and get revenge. After all, you DID do funny experiments on me. What were those anyway?"  
  
"None of your damn business!"  
  
"Jeez! So, does the President actually know that I had gone missing, or did you stage my death? So, if I go walking in there right now, he would recognise me, and you'd be, like, fired?"  
  
"Don't even think about it," said Hojo, wishing that this weird pest would go away. Then he had a thought. "Hahahaha!"  
  
"What's so funny old man?"  
  
"Sure, you can go see President Shin-Ra if you like."  
  
"Nah, you'll probably miss me. And besides, I'm guessing you'll send me up there because he's actually dead, and there'll be a trap waiting, due to the fact that when I'm gone, you'll call the Turks, and they'll be waiting up there to capture me with Rufus, who will be the new President now that the old one's dead, right?"  
  
'This man...the Mako has got to his head, or was he just like this anyway?'  
  
"By the way, where's Tseng? Haven't spoken to that guy in aaaaaaages!"  
  
"Okay, why are you really here, Zack?"  
  
"Well, I dunno. Revenge as I said, but I can't kill you in front of the lady," he shot a glance at Aeris. "That'd be uncivilised, so I figured I would just take her by force, y'know? So now, this is the part where you say that I'll never get out of here alive, and that you'll shoot me if I come one step closer, right?"  
  
"...Right."  
  
"Okay, you stand right there, and I'll free Aeris," Zack was going to be intimidated by no-one, except maybe Sephiroth. He just talked so much that Hojo couldn't really speak back. He freed Aeris, who wasn't really locked up or anything, but was still trapped somehow. "Okay, now, if you will kindly step through that door over there..."  
  
Aeris followed Zack's orders and went through the door. It was a Shin-Ra lab records room.  
  
"Now listen here, Hojo. I am going to beat the crap out of you for everything you have done to me, Aeris, Sephiroth, and even Cloud. Okay?"  
  
But Hojo wasn't there to listen. He'd already left the room. Zack saw where he'd gone to and followed.  
  
"Major Zackary Robins. Or should I say, Valentine?"  
  
"Professor, what are you talking about?"  
  
In the records room, Aeris was surprised to see a gigantic stack of tapes and paper files. There were several filing cabinets, but definately not enough to contain everything that was jammed into this room.  
  
Aeris stared at the pile of tapes and files, then at the filing cabinet. And then she went to the filing cabinet.  
  
She browsed through the cabinet until she found the pages she was looking for: J-E-N-O-V-A Project.  
  
Jenova Project [Year X, Month X, Date X] - [Year X, Month X, Date X] [Period - 33 Years]  
  
We found what we like to call Jenova inside a geological stratum, rather near to what one might call the Northern Crater. - Hojo [Month X, Date X].  
  
[Date X, Month X]: Injected SOLDIER with first Jenova Cells. Theory Proven to be a success. The Jenova has enhanced physical ability by 715%. The subject [Sephiroth] will be raised within the Shin-Ra laboratory until [Year X. Month X, Date X]. - Gast.  
  
[Year X, Month X, Date X]: The Jenova Specimen has been proven dangerous. We sealed it up within Nibel Reactor for extensive research.  
  
Specimen [A] has been produced. [Year X, Month X, Date X]. Injected Specimen [A] with Jenova. [Year X, Month X, Date X] - Gast.  
  
[Project Z] has been injected with Jenova. [Year X, Month X, Date X] - Hojo.  
  
______________________________________  
  
Aeris soon tired of seaching through this new information, for there was no significant information on how to destroy Jenova; all anyone ever did was seal it up. Wouldn't Jenova have liked to be free? That really wasn't what was bothering Aeris though. Possibly some element, some pH level could be Jenova's weakness? They obviously haven't discovered it yet, or possibly they didn't want to know, or maybe they did know, but didn't want it destroyed...  
  
Aeris then continued her search throughout the the room for files. She could now hear Hojo banging on the door yelling at her to come out, but she wasn't leaving until she knew everything! Looking through the filing cabinet, she found a series of disturbing information.  
  
[Projects A to Z]  
  
Aeris [Project A:Ancient] and Sephiroth [Project S:Unconfirmed] were concieved 30 years ago inside an Ancient by the name of [Ifalna]. (Notes Hojo. Hojo decided to do several more sick experiments in which Gast agreed on. He was just as bad.) We have extracted both foetus'es from the Ancient, Ifalna, and inserted the female foetus, [Project A] into crygenically frozen storage. [Project S], however, was shifted, and grafted into a Scientist named Lucretia, who had recently miscarriaged Professor Hojo's original child already. Five months later, Lucretia gave birth to Sephiroth, who was originally conceived by Ifalna, being the biological mother.  
  
Seven years later, [Project A] was taken out of cryogenic storage, and grafted back inside Ifalna. Ifalna five months later gave birth to Aeris.  
  
[Project Z] was insignificant; while experimenting on the Ex-Turk named Vincent Valentine, Hojo took several semen samples, and had atificially inseminated them into Lucretia, since Hojo could no-longer have children of his own. This happened two years after the birth of Sephiroth. Nine months later, Zack was born. Being insignificant to his experiments, Hojo had him adopted into a family living   
  
in Gongaga. [Report by Gast]  
  
Professor Gast was unfortunately killed, and therefore can no longer continue this project. All further reports shall be made by me. [Professor Hojo.]  
  
Ten years later Zack returned to Shin-Ra for SOLDIER training.  
  
______________________________________  
  
Aeris stared at the report wide-eyed. She read it twice over. It was clear as crystal. This is what had happened to her. Her father, Professor Gast, had been as bad as Hojo, in the name of Science. There was nothing she could do about it now, however. She could no longer hear Hojo outside, but then she heard Zack, requesting she come out. And so she did.  
  
"Hey there! Listen, let's get out of here. I've locked Hojo in one of those cells over there, it's only a matter of time before he gets out. Let's leave."  
  
Aeris hugged Zack. "Thank you very much. First, there's something I have to do," she went back in and grabbed the report. "Now, I'm just going to free Aetherius.  
  
"Who's that?"  
  
"A friend of mine. Just a moment."  
  
"Damn, we really leaving Midgar? I can't wait to see the world!" said Aetherius excitedly. They were now in the Sector 5 Slums, and were preparing for their departure. While they were leaving, Zack explained how he came up and got Aeris, and went even further back to the time when he got shot up by Shin-Ra Soldiers with Cloud.  
  
"Jeez, so, I dunno how I survived that shooting, but I felt real weak, and so Cloud, he just thought I was dead, dragged himself up, got my Buster Sword, and left for Midgar. From what I saw, he fell down the hill. That must've really hurt."  
  
"He ended up in the Sector 7 Slums Railway Station," said Aeris. "Tifa told me he was really beat up bad, and they helped him out."  
  
"Yeah, well I made my way down to Midgar too. You know the story from there."  
  
"What happened? Fill me in," said Aetherius, obviously interested in what was happening.  
  
"Well, I found him while I was in the church. He was crawling past," said Aeris, suddenly remembering what had happened. "He was completely covered in blood, and there were bullets under his skin everywhere. I had them extracted, and healed him with my Cetra powers. But then, he suddenly had no idea what was going on anymore, and couldn't speak clearly or nothing, so I found him a home in Sector 5. Inside an old pipe somebody else had abandoned. It had a bed, TV and everything. When I met Cloud, I brought him to see Zack to see if he could help him, but he said he was no doctor, and generally didn't seen to remember Zack at all. And I told you my story from thereon."  
  
"Thanks. That's an interesting story."  
  
"So you took Cloud to see me too, AND he didn't recognise me?! No way!"  
  
"Sorry, but it's true. Hey, I'm going to go to the church before we leave, okay?"  
  
*********  
  
That's the end of this chapter! I guess it's starting to go downhill from here, but I know exactly what is going to happen next, so bear with me! 


End file.
